10 Things We Need To Know When Supporting Our Colleagues In Surgical Menopause

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I recently spoke to Lisa Creasey about her experience of surgical menopause and to find out what we all need to know if we’ve got friends, family and colleagues who are in surgical menopause.

1. Not all surgical hysterectomies are the same. Some will remove just the uterus, which won’t lead to menopause. If the ovaries are removed that’s called an oophorectomy and that will. A salpingectomy is where the fallopian tubes are removed. The word ‘bilateral’ will tell you if it’s both. Sometimes people talk about a ‘full’ or ‘total’ hysterectomy as a short cut. It’s specifically the loss of ovaries that plunges people into surgical menopause.
2. Surgical menopause is not the same as a natural menopause, physically or emotionally. There won’t be a perimenopause. The symptoms come on suddenly and with extreme ferocity.
3. People with a surgical menopause won’t just be dealing with what happens after their surgery — there will be a before story, that’s often traumatic. It may involve cancer and a very sudden, urgent decision. It may also involve a long history of pain and ill health, which will have taken its toll.
4. They will have seen a lot of doctors — but that doesn’t mean it will have been easy to get the support they need after their surgery. Those…